Cast of Danish Friends at the Summer House, Danish Meatballs and JellyFish...

I can't blog more about the food we're making until I introduce the cast of characters on this summer house vacation in Denmark.

First off, we have Anna Lidell - my friend and fellow songwriter/producer, whom invited a number of people to 'drop in' while we are here in this nature-laden place - photos of her are all over the last entry.

Then there's Rakel, Anna's girlfriend - who arrived shortly after we did (our Chinese expert and general Encyclopedia on most subjects), adding serious grace and serenity to the household. Bergliot (I call her Berg) - arrived several days later. Aside from being intelligent, I've already been made aware she is a serious cook and I'm ready to eat anything she makes (of course). Berg made me feel less alone by yelling every time she punched or kicked a jellyfish (fortunately none of the stinging ones) while we were swimming in the sea - mine was more like a scream. I also yelled out every time I got down to my neck in the cold water. I'm not usually fond of cold water, but I will make an exception in this instance..

Lise was the last to arrive (pronounced almost like 'Lisa' for the Americans) - she is actually a cook at a cafe in Copenhagen in addition to her studies. All these ladies are students at the University of Copenhagen and have been fun and easy company. To add to this, they all love food or at least know how to cook it, and there is a garden. I'm in a good place right now… :)

This particular evening, Anna Lidel's father, Andres Blinkenberg also joined us (bringing much-needed groceries - thanks Dad) :). I whipped up a pre-dinner cocktail while others went to the garden for dinner ingredients.

Now for the Danish element - Rakel got to work on her own version of Danish meatballs - which by the way, are quite varied from household to household. Some of the basics are in most of them - red ground meat, bread crumbs and egg - but Danish (as opposed to Swedish) meatballs often have pork mixed in. Or so I've heard...

So as I mentioned - Danish meatballs are quite varied (in terms of what they throw in there), but in this case, Rakel added basic (low-fat) ground meat, egg, salt, pepper and also threw in (from the garden) parsley, onion, red currant berries, garlic, and a hot chili pepper (I think a habanero) that was purchased at the grocery store. :) Rakel is not afraid of experimenting with different ingredients, I've come to find. And so far I'm not complaining.

You mishmash all of this (usually by hand) together in the bowl, create little meat balls, then fry them up in a pan. Rakel managed to do this without squishing the red currant berries. They're pretty supple and strong, though, so I don't think it was too hard.

After a very short time (and our round of cocktails), we set the table and were ready to eat.

Rakel Danish Meatballs

Our side dish was very simple and from the garden - boiled potatoes, served with fresh dill and a salad with lettuce, fried pumpkin seeds and a light vinaigrette dressing. We ate this with beer and it was filling but not heavy - and it was rather quick. The meat was low-fat and not much oil was used to cook it, and the potatoes had their skins on and with the fresh dill, didn't need much else - so healthy, too!

All this with a beer and we were pretty satisfied. Special thanks to Andres for letting us pillage his garden for our nightly food parties - glad you could join us for one of them! :)




Next entry - Snails - from nature's backyard (or at least that is where we got them), not from the garden, where you might be able to get yours wherever you live...

Danish Peoples from left to right: Bergliot, Anna, Andres Blinkenberg (keeping warm in the robe), and Rakel :)